UA’s MBA #1 Over-Performing Program In Nation

Newswise — TUSCALOOSA, Ala. − A new review by on-line business school website Poets & Quants reveals that the Manderson MBA Program at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce may not be ranked as high as it should be and is being undersold. The analysis is based on the U.S. News and World Report 2014 business schools rankings.

UA’s MBA program came in as the top over-performing school on the list, indicating that the school is producing far better MBA graduates than U.S. News peer assessments would indicate.

“This is great news for The University of Alabama and the Culverhouse College of Commerce,” said UA Interim Provost Joe Benson. “We are pleased to see this recognition of the hard work and dedication of our business school students, faculty and staff.”

U.S. News bases its rankings on objective measures (average GMAT scores, average undergraduate GPA, acceptance rate, average starting salary and percentage of students with jobs at graduation) and subjective measures (assessments by corporate recruiters and peer assessments from deans and MBA directors of other business schools). One quarter of a program’s U.S. News ranking is based on peer subjective opinion of business school deans and MBA program directors. The analysis by Poets & Quants compared the actual U.S. News ranking of a school to its ranking based solely on the peer subjective rankings. Those schools with higher actual rankings (lower peer rankings) were labeled “overperformers” and those with lower actual rankings (higher peer rankings) were labeled “underperformers.”

According to the review, UA’s MBA program is performing far better on the objective measures than the peer subjective assessments suggest. The Manderson MBA program ranks 58th on the most recent U.S. News list, rising 20 spots from the previous year. However, its peer ranking, based solely on scores given by deans and directors of other business schools, is 93rd.

“For our MBA program to move up 20 spots in the U.S. News rankings is quite an accomplishment,” Culverhouse Dean J. Michael Hardin said. “We just need our peers to take note and understand what we have been doing here at the business school with our undergraduate and graduate programs so that our peer assessment is more aligned with our core ranking. My goal is for Culverhouse to be in the top 25.”